If you couldn’t be at KSBar’s Game of Thrones trivia night, you can still listen to T.J. Walker and Nick Roush talk about the greatest show in television. A pseudo-pregame show, KTR’s dynamic duo touched on a few topics before the action got started. Highlights from the shortened podcast:

— Guests ask where to pick up trivia sheets.

— How Varys could dictate who ultimately sits on the Iron Throne.

— How to juggle March Madness and your GoT rewatch.

— Nick is easily distracted.

— The Light of the Seven.

— Next week’s guest is a big one.

You can easily listen on the KSR App, available on iTunes andGoogle Play. Streaming online is simple through Pod Paradise. You can also get it directly to your phone by subscribing to “Kentucky Sports Radio” on iTunes or via Android’s Podcast Addict app.

Kentucky is one of seven teams the NCAA chose for its “March Madness Confidential” behind-the-scenes series, and today, we got to see the first video of the Cats preparing for the tournament. Watch below as the NCAA March Madness crews follow the team from the Selection Show to their arrival in Jacksonville:

Good afternoon, folks. The Knicks are clearly tanking which means ALL THE MINUTES for Kevin Knox. Let’s talk NBA.

RECAP

The New York Knicks were obliterated by the playoff-bound Utah Jazz, 137-116, but that didn’t prevent Kevin Knox from having his best game in months. The former Kentucky forward went off for 27 points on an efficient 10-17 shooting – including 3-6 from deep – to go along with eight rebounds and three assists in over 46 minutes, a career-high for him. His 27 points were the most he’s registered since he poured in 31 points against the 76ers back on Jan. 13. He sat out this game for only 1:14 in the late first quarter and didn’t get another rest for the remainder of the game.

The next best performer from Wednesday night was Eric Bledsoe, who’s Milwaukee Bucks (sans Giannis Antetokounmpo) fell to the Cavaliers in Cleveland. Bledsoe finished with 24 points on 7-19 shooting in addition to eight rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. On the other side of the ball, Brandon Knight contributed 13 points on 5-12 shooting to go along with four assists for the Cavs.

Enes Kanter posted a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Mavericks in a mere 20 minutes. He also dished out four dimes in the process.

Bam Adeabyo scored only six points for the Miami Heat in a massive team win over the red-hot San Antonio Spurs, but he made up for it elsewhere. Adebayo hauled in 15 rebounds – his third-most this season – while also recording five assists and two steals.

Other notes

Anthony Davis was absent from the team in the New Orleans Pelicans blowout loss to the Orlando Magic for personal reasons with the team Twitter account citing “a family matter” as the cause. Julius Randle shot 1-9 from the field for only six points while Darius Miller wasn’t any better, going 3-10 from the field for seven points.

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The best postseason tournament in sports begins today and Kentucky will take the floor in Jacksonville as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region. It will be the second time in the John Calipari era that the Wildcats are coming from the 2-hole and it was of course the seed UK won the national title out of in 1998.Awaiting the Wildcats for the 7:10pm tip will be the Southland Conference champs. Abilene Christian will be making their first ever appearance in the tournament and they’ll be gunning to make a big splash.

Nuts and Bolts

For 40 years from 1959-2009, ACU was a Division II contender on the basketball court. The Wildcats made multiple playoff appearances over those decades highlighted by an Elite Eight finish in 1966. However, going into the 2013-2014 season, the university decided make up jump into Division I.

The ultimate goal was to have a team good enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and in just their sixth season at the highest level they have accomplished that feat. Under alum Joe Golding, the Wildcats have had a slow build in Division I but in his eighth season, it appears that Golding has the Wildcats headed in the right direction.

After serving as as assistant coach at Arkansas-Little Rock, Golding landed the job at his alma mater and it was a slow climb. After six straight losing seasons to begin his head coaching career, the now 43 year old head coach has led ACU to consecutive winning regular seasons. This year was the breakthrough with 27 victories and a Southland Conference tournament title.

ACU hangs their hat on the defensive end. Under Golding, the Wildcats play at a slow pace and lean on their defense to make things happen. Abilene Christian uses a ball pressure man-to-man defense that is very good at forcing turnovers and limiting opponents to just one shot per possession. On the other end, ACU wants to take their time and get a good shot. Despite being an excellent three-point shooting team (38.3 percent), ACU only has 34.2 percent of their field goal attempts coming from behind the arc. ACU wants to attack the basket and use crisp passing in the halfcourt to create open looks.

This will be the first ever meeting between the two programs. Under Kentucky, John Calipari is 9-0 in the Round of 64, but their last game against a 15-seed was a little too close for comfort. Despite a two touchdown lead at half, UK struggled to put away Northern Kentucky on their way to just a nine-point victory.

Out in the desert, Kentucky is a 21-point favorite with a total of 132. That’s a projected final score of 76.5-55.5. On the season, Kentucky is 16-16-1 against the spread while ACU is 15-13-1. UK is just 3-7 against the number in their last 10 games.

Backcourt Breakdown

At point for ACU is senior Jaylen Franklin who is putting up over 10 points and 4.9 assists per game. The Little Rock, Arkansas native has started every game for the Wildcats. The 6-foot-2 guard is an excellent perimeter defender who will give UK’s guards some fits when they put the ball on the deck. He’s limited on the offensive end, but is very good at drawing fouls and going to the line despite shooting under 60 percent at the stripe. He can make plays above the rim.

Next to Franklin on the perimeter is junior Payten Ricks who is this team’s top three-point specialist. The Kansas native has poured in 70 threes on a 40.5 percent shooting clip. Ricks is a really good shooter and you can expect most of his shots to come from three. Off the bench, head coach Joe Golding will use diminutive point guard Damien Daniels. The freshman guard from Kansas brings a scoring punch and is pesky on ball defender.

Just a few weeks ago, ACU was delivered a blow when starting guard BJ Maxwell was dismissed from the team. The off guard was this squad’s second best three-point shooter and a full-time starter. Despite his loss, ACU was still able to win the Southland tournament title.

Frontcourt Breakdown

ACU’s best player is found in the paint in senior Jaren Lewis. The 6-foot-6 forward plays the four for the Wildcats and he can step away from the hoop and space the floor (33.3 percent three-point shooter). He leads the team with 13.7 points per game and is a very solid offensive rebounder. He’ll be at a size disadvantage for 40 minutes, but has the athletic ability to make things happen with his quickness.

Next to Lewis in the post, ACU will use a platoon at the five. Both Hayden Farquhar and Joe Pleasant log time down low and they can both be considered glue pieces. Farquhar is the far more dangerous player with his three-point shooting ability. The majority of his shots have come from behind the three-point line.

On the wing, Trey Lenox plays the most when ACU doesn’t want to go to all in on a three-guard lineup. Lenox is another strong defender who does most of his damage with shots from behind the arc.

Keys to Victory

In their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, you can expect for ACU to come out swinging early. It’s hard to not see how excited this team and program is to be here. UK should expect some big swings early. Following the gut-wrenching loss to Tennessee, it will be important for UK to take ahold of this game early and gain some confidence. Get a lead in the first five minutes and the talent should takeover for what should be a comfortable win.

Despite not attempting too many three-pointers, ACU is one of the best teams in the country in making them. The Wildcats have four rotation players shooting at least 33 percent from deep. Against a talented defense with all kinds of length, don’t be surprised to see ACU launch at least 25 threes. If they hit 12 or 13 they will be in this game in crunch time.

The strength of ACU is on defense and the Wildcats will play man-to-man and pressure the basketball. After a solid performance against Tennessee, Ashton Hagans will be challenged once again. If the freshman point guard is able to handle the pressure, hit lay-ups, and setup teammates that would be a good start to UK’s tournament run.

Even if Hagans plays well, UK is going to have some turnovers tonight. ACU’s best offense usually comes off of turnovers and they produce a lot of them. When turnovers do happen, UK must be locked in on transition defense. Don’t give up cheap buckets or transition threes and Kentucky will be just fine for most of the 40 minutes.

This morning, Kentucky head coach John Calipari announced forward PJ Washington as OUT for the team’s opening-round matchup with Abilene Christian this evening. While the star Wildcat’s tests on his foot came back negative, it is sprained, and he’s wearing a hard cast for precautionary reasons.

With Washington out for tonight, and possibly even Saturday, where does Kentucky look to replace the sophomore forward’s production?

They have a couple of options.

For starters, senior forward Reid Travis will have to make up for Washington’s absence in the scoring department. Last season at Stanford, Travis averaged 19.5 points on 13.5 shots per contest, only finishing with double-digit shot attempts in two of his team’s 35 games. This season at Kentucky, the graduate transfer has managed ten or more shot attempts just six times total, with his last coming back on January 26 against Kansas (11). He’s proven time and time again that he is capable of having the offense go through him, but Kentucky will likely need Travis to be the anchor in the middle on that end of the floor this evening. He told KSR after the Tennessee game last week that his knee felt great and he could handle a bigger workload going into the NCAA Tournament, and tonight, he’s gonna have to put his money where his mouth is.

Outside of Travis is Kentucky’s duo of lengthy forwards Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery. While they have each had their own respective ups and downs throughout the season, it’s important to focus on how they performed with the graduate transfer out due to knee injury.

In the four games following Travis’ injury against Missouri in the regular season, Nick Richards saw a jump in minutes from 10.42 MPG to 22.25 MPG. In that span, 6.25 points, 7.25 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per contest.

As for Montgomery, the 6-foot-10 big man averaged 21.2 minutes per game to close out the regular season, putting up 2.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per contest. The point production wasn’t there, but he was a high-impact player elsewhere on the floor.

Aside from the usual frontcourt options in Travis, Richards, and Montgomery, John Calipari has used forward Keldon Johnson as a small ball four at various times during Travis’ injury, and that continued a bit into the SEC Tournament. With Travis back in and Washington out, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Johnson down low at times tonight.

Abilene Christian’s starting center, Jalone Friday, was dismissed from the team back in February for violating university policies. The junior big man averaged 13.1 points on 47 percent shooting and 38 percent from three, 4.7 rebounds, and one assist per contest. With the team’s anchor out, they have struggled to find a consistent identity in the frontcourt.

Outside of Friday, the Wildcats of ACU only have one player in the main rotation listed at 6-foot-8 or taller. Forward Jaren Lewis is the team’s leading scorer (13.7 PPG), but standing at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds, he can be matched up with Johnson at the three or four. Hayden Farquhar, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, has finished in double figures in five of ACU’s last seven games, but Travis should have no problem containing him. 6-foot-8 freshman Joe Pleasant has finished in double figures just seven times this season, with three of those outings coming after Friday’s dismissal. Like Montgomery this year, he has shown flashes offensively, but he has yet to prove himself as a consistent force in the post. They have one 7-footer, Kolton Kohl, but he averages just over four minutes per game and doesn’t pose a legitimate threat to Kentucky.

In short, Washington’s absence hurts, but he isn’t irreplaceable tonight. It would certainly be tougher, but Kentucky could even make do without him in the Round of 32.

If UK makes it past that point and the star forward is still out, though, that’s when it will become a serious problem for the Wildcats and their hopes of making a run to the Final Four.

PJ Washington will not play vs. Abilene Christian. John Calipari just announced that the specialist PJ saw yesterday confirmed he has a sprained foot but no fracture, but put him in a hard cast as a precaution. He has been ruled out for today’s game.

The specialists confirmed our original diagnosis that @PJWashington has a sprained foot and there is no fracture. Once we determined that PJ was not going to play today, they put him in a hard cast for precautionary reasons. He is out for today’s game.

March Madness is a holiday in the Bluegrass, and this office of Kentucky fans does it better than any other. In what has become an annual tradition, the folks at Viamedia in Lexington perform a lip sync to celebrate the start of the NCAA Tournament, this year, to “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen:

Bonus points for the couch in “flames” at the end. Here are some Viamedia Spirit Day videos from past years to get you in the mood for today’s games:

Get ready for today’s NCAA Tournament games by watching our new pick ’em show, “Two Guys, One Pick.” The Action Network is releasing each of our one-minute game previews on its Twitter and YouTube accounts this week and you can see a couple of them below to get a taste of what it is Matt and I are doing.

It’s basketball season in the Bluegrass and at Lockbox, inside the 21c (twenty one see) Museum Hotel, that means comfort food and good bourbon. Fuel up with our seed-crusted Catfish or the Lockbox Cheeseburger, and wash it down with your choice from our list of over 60 bourbons. On game day, or any day, join us at Lockbox…..one six seven West Main Street in the 21c (Twenty-one see) Museum Hotel. You can win dinner for two just by signing up for our email list at 21cmuseumhotels.com/mailing-list.

Kentucky’s road to the Final Four starts in Jacksonville. The Cats tip-off in the NCAA Tournament tonight at 7:10 on CBS.

Anxiety consumed the Big Blue Nation until about 3:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, when John Calipari provided an update on P.J. Washington’s status. It turns out, “for precautionary reasons” really was just for precautionary reasons. Washington is wearing a boot for a sprained foot he suffered against Tennessee.

“X-rays, everything was negative, MRIs,” Calipari said, “but we sent him to a specialist, again [as a] precaution. He wants to play. If you know me, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. Let’s go get one more level of this.’ So, we expect him — he is not here with us now, he’ll be here in an hour or so, but we sent him to a specialist to make sure that he can’t harm himself but we expect him to play.”

As soon as fans had enough time to exhale, a report surfaced that John Calipari has “serious interest” in the UCLA head coaching vacancy. I hope no one was too worried. We’re talking about UCLA, not the Los Angeles Lakers. If you need more reassurance, Coach Cal put those rumors to bed late last night.

Before I go to bed, let me just say this: I’m coaching at the Univ. of Kentucky. In my opinion, there is no better job in the world to coach basketball. My plan and my desire is to retire at Kentucky. I think the university feels the same as I do and we’ve talked openly about it.

He followed that up by saying, “Now let’s focus on this game tomorrow.” I will happily oblige.

How to Watch and Listen

Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel and Jaime Erdahl are on the call for CBS. Tip-off is set for 7:10. If you don’t have an antenna, you can stream all the games on the March Madness Live app. If you’re stuck on the road and can’t watch, there are multiple ways to listen to The Voice of the Wildcats.

Vegas

The Cats opened as 21.5-point favorites over the Wildcats of ACU. If you prefer wagering over/unders, the total is set at 132. One of the biggest gambling days of the year, I wish you all the best (unless you’re picking against me. In that case, I hope you’re wrong.)

Listen to the KSR Pregame Show

Before Kentucky takes the court, listen to the KSR crew preview the matchup between the two Wildcats. All of the action begins on 630 WLAP or online at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Jonny David’s All-Access

In this edition, the shooting guard asks his teammates, “Do you actually think Coach Cal could survive in Alaska?” I have a feeling Keldon Johnson and Nick Richards’ responses will make you chuckle.

Submit Your Brackets NOW!

You only have a few more hours to complete your NCAA Tournament bracket. You can win a few cool prizes in the KSR Bracket Challenge, up to $64,000 in the Draft Kings Challenge, or up to four free appetizers if you complete your bracket at KSBar. Hurry! There are only about three hours until tip-off.

That was Awesome

A big thank you to everyone who came to KSBar for Game of Thrones trivia last night. When I agreed to host, I did not expect to set a new KSBar trivia record with more than 50 teams in attendance. You people are crazy.

A few teams used creative Kentucky themed Game of Thrones names. My three favorite:

1. Joe B. Harrenhal
2. Jojen Reed Travis
3. Khal-ipari

If you missed it, don’t worry. We’ll run it back once the series concludes this summer.

KSR’s Dog of the Day

Beau believes he completed the perfect bracket. I don’t have the heart to tell him the odds of that are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

Time is running out to join the KSR Bracket Challenge! Think you can do better than the KSR crew? Now is your chance to find out. Head to KSR’s challenge page and make your picks. Simply fill out your bracket and enjoy the games. Winners of the KSR Bracket Challenge have a chance at some great prizes: